Swine flu hits Argentina

A health emergency is in effect in Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina, following the latest outbreak of the H1N1 swine flu. Anchor Lisa Mullins finds out more from reporter Richard Reynolds.
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LISA MULLINS: A health emergency is in effect in Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina. Officials there are worried about the latest outbreak of the H1N1 swine flu virus. The flu crisis is getting less attention here in the US these days, but nations in the southern hemisphere are being hit hard as winter gets underway there. And scientists everywhere are keeping a close eye on the pandemic to determine if the flu virus is changing and becoming more deadly. Richard Reynolds is a freelance reporter now in Buenos Aires, how hard had the capital region been hit?

RICHARD REYNOLDS: Well the region immediately around Buenos Aires has actually been hit quite hard. Officially, there are 44 deaths, most of which have happened over the last two weeks. But unofficially, if you talk to people in the health ministries here, the toll, nationally, may be more like a 150, which actually makes Argentina the country with the highest death toll of any of the countries struck by the virus, anywhere in the world.

LISA MULLINS: So, I would imagine that is creating a certain amount of tension among the people there. How are they reacting?

RICHARD REYNOLDS: Well, only in the last 24 hours they’ve become to react. People are getting concerned. Walking around the streets today for the very first time, I saw large numbers of people, perhaps as many as one in five, you know, one in four, actually wearing surgical masks to protect themselves against getting infected from this particular variant of the flu.

LISA MULLINS: And is this the kind of thing that the government is calling for?

RICHARD REYNOLDS: Well, yes and no, you know? Argentine politics is a very strange brew. Yes, there are some people going on television and saying its huge crisis, and why aren’t we doing more? And there were others going on television and saying, what’s the big deal? You know, and in some ways, scientifically, it really is a question of what’s the big deal? You know, hundreds of people die from the flu in this country every year. You know, thousands die in countries like the United States. So, in some ways, our reaction to this particular variant of the flu is a bit of an overreaction. But people are obviously scared. So, perhaps the public reaction is the more important one here, other than what we’re actually hearing from scientists.

LISA MULLINS: So tell us what scientists are saying right now regarding whether or not the H1N1 virus has morphed down there? Because there are a lot of people up in the northern hemisphere who are watching very closely what countries, such as Argentina are experiencing, and whether or not the virus itself has changed, whether or not its mutated because that could indicate, not only a tough time for people down there, but also for us up here, for this coming winter time. Are they finding that it’s any more virulent? That it’s more lethal than it was when it was first in the northern hemisphere?

RICHARD REYNOLDS: Well, at this point, no, there’s absolutely no evidence of that, but obviously the great fear is not so much what we have to deal with right now, but that the flu virus mutates constantly. Pretty much every six months, as it moves from the northern to the southern, to the northern hemisphere, the flu virus mutates. And there’s always the potential that it can mutate into a truly killer virus. But, it is the potential that is scaring people, and scaring scientists.

LISA MULLINS: Richard, did the government of Argentina appear to learn any lessons from the experience here in the US or in Mexico?

RICHARD REYNOLDS: Well, I think without sounding too terribly cynical, I think governments in Argentina are very slow to learn lessons from anybody. The current administration in this country is an extremely autocratic one, which tends to think, without over exaggerating things, that they know best about pretty much everything. And they probably have been a bit slow to respond to this particular crisis, although the health minister did actually resign two days ago over this particular crisis saying that she’d done a bad job and she needed to go. But she was probably forced out, just as a political excuse, because the government really has done very little. And you have to keep in mind, while the death toll and the crisis is hitting the capital, and the province around the capital quite hard, it doesn’t seem to be having much of an impact outside the capital, which is actually highly suspicious. There are parts of the country that are very poor, had very poor reporting conditions, and that’s why many people believe the death toll, and the overall infection rate is actually much higher than that the government is officially reporting.

LISA MULLINS: Alright. Speaking to us from Buenos Aires about the outbreak of the H1N1 swine flu virus in Argentina. Freeland reporter, Richard Reynolds, thank you.

RICHARD REYNOLDS: Thank you.

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